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Man Indicted for Spending Navajo Corporate Funds on Personal Expenses

ICTMN Staff

5/16/12

A man who allegedly spent millions of Navajo Nation corporate funds for personal use was indicted in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque, New Mexico on May 15 for charges of federal tax evasion, reported the Albuquerque Journal.

Hak Ghun, 61, the former CEO of Biochemical Decontamination Systems Manufacturing Inc. (BDSM), a Shiprock, New Mexico-based metal fabrications plant, is accused of evading a total of $367,809 in federal taxes during tax years 2005 through 2007, stated a prepared release by U.S. Attorney Kenneth Gonzales.

BCDS folded in 2007, when a Navajo Nation-funded audit of the company's officials found that Ghun spent upwards of $3 million of the Navajo Nation's corporate funds invested into BCDS on gambling, golfing, vehicles, relatives, friends and other personal expenses, reported the Navajo Times in August 2011. The indictment only charges Ghun with spending $1,078,170 of BCDS funds on personal expenses, Gonzales's release states.

Ghun entered a not-guilty plea on May 15 and was released pending a trial, reported the Associated Press. If convicted, Ghun could face up to 15 years in prison and $300,000 in fines.

According to a Navajo Times article from August 2011, this is not Ghun's first accusation of fraud. Ghun served three years in federal prison following his conviction as one of seven individuals involved in an $11 million fraud scheme in 1984.

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